Augmented Verses - StarTracker for Twitter-based Bedouin poetry show

Reaching millions of viewers from all over the Arabic speaking world every Monday, “El Beit” is a big hit. Now in its third year the production always tries to employ the latest broadcast technology, including live tweets, audience interaction and this year for the first time Mo-Sys StarTrackers for camera tracking.

Filmed in a massive studio in Dubai it required a tracking system that is economic but at the same time reliable and able to track a very large volume. More than 200 ‘stars’ were randomly stuck to the lighting gantry. 50 smaller sized ‘stars’ were applied to the lower hanging lighting truss. This was enough for one system to automatically create a tracking map that was then shared with the other two StarTrackers. It gave the director the ability to move the cameras for virtual graphics freely within the studio space.

Two of the tracking systems are mounted to cameras on pedestals and one to a camera on a 40ft Technocrane. The crane mount did not hinder the StarTracker thanks to its wide field of view which is robust to obstructions. With a wider reach the StarTracker on the telescopic crane is perfect for wide angle floating shots; going up to to 8 meters (half the height of the studio) without ever losing tracking quality.

The camera tracking data is used by British-based company Ionoco, who are known for delivering innovative game show technologies worldwide. For “El Beit” they created virtual objects that are a crucial part of the show. The graphics appear in a dazzling genie-from-a-bottle effect from a hole in the studio floor, that opens up showing the rotating logo of the show, a verse of a poem or a photograph for a title competition.

The show will be broadcast live every Monday on Al Oula Dubai TV till May 2016.